Outstanding contribution to parliamentary system

Parliament in Sri Lanka
A Study the Working of Parliamentary Institutions in Sri Lanka
Author: Prof. Wiswa Warnapala Godage Publishers

Reviewed by Dr. S.B. Ekanayake

Prof. Wiswa Warnapala needs to be congratulated for producing a monumental piece of work on the parliamentary system of Sri Lanka. This book titled ‘Parliament in Sri Lanka’, which runs into 776 pages, is an outstanding piece of research. Above all, it is a very comprehensive treatment of the subject.

Though the Sri Lanka parliamentary system has been in existence for more than 75 years, no profound analysis of the subject has been undertaken by a single author on any earlier occasion.

Various scholars have touched on different aspects of the system but no attempt was made to analyse the system in its totality desegregating into its parts.

Seemingly, this work is a pioneering piece of research by a person with an illustrious academic career.

Though the Sri Lankan parliamentary institutions, modelled on the basis of the experience at Westminster in England, has existed for a long period of time, no worthwhile attempt had been made to examine its various aspects from the point of view of the impact of the Westminster model.

Prof. Warnapala enjoyed the rare privilege of being an academic – cum – politician who spent two terms in Parliament as a member of the SLFP and held several ministerial positions while in Parliament.

The experiences which he gained was enormous. He always remained an academic and collected the required information on the subject while functioning as a parliamentarian. He was able to look at the working of parliamentary institutions from the angle of both theory and practice which was supported by his enormous knowledge of the subject viz the writings of both Harold Laski, Ivor Jennings and all their classic works of the period. These learned findings have been eloquently quoted in this study.

Experience

I can remember that some time back, Prof, Warnapala was the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in parliament. It is likely that he made use of his own experience as chairman of PAC and brought out a publication titled Parliament and Public Accountability in Sri Lanka (2004). It was again a pioneering piece of work on the subject.

This time Prof. Warnapala, with great authenticity, had undertaken a larger problem of studying the working of all parliamentary institutions with more than 2,000 citations bringing out a seminal piece of work on the subject covering twelve chapters.

Introduction has been written in the form of an overview of the events and matters which relate to the major issues in the main text. The 12 chapters have been arranged on the basis of their specific significance to the entire fabric of parliamentary governance. During the past 75 years these mechanisms were transformed under three different constitutions.

The most important element in these transformations was to emulate the basic characteristics of the Westminster model burrowed from Great Britain. All colonial constitutions were allowed to evolve in the direction of the Westminster model and Sri Lanka was a unique case in respect of this matter.

Historic mould

The first two constitutions of Sri Lanka strictly followed the Westminster model though the 1978 constitution deviated from the model. Yet the overall institution of parliament continued to remain in the historic mould of the Westminster model in the Commonwealth .

The unique nature of the institutions was that though these in theory remained strictly loyal to the Westminster model, in practice the system developed certain vital features which were largely Sri Lankan in orientation. For instance. parliamentary debates, question time, adjournment hour, committees and motions came to be influenced by the nature of the political culture in the country.

A Parliamentary system, though implanted by the British on the basis of their considerations and priorities, has to work in the background of the political culture of the country and specially so third world parliamentary systems have to function in an unique political environment. The political culture of the given country tend to influence the working of all parliamentary institutions and India and Sri Lanka have plenty of time and committees have their own unique features, which Prof. Warnapala has discussed in detail.

For instance, question time an effective instrument of control, has not been properly used and it has now become an occasion for the indulgence of rhetoric.

Its effectiveness as an instrument of parliamentary control has been virtually destroyed and as we see over television the question time has become an occasion for the discussion of extraneous matters and all kinds of digression. It damages the efficacy of the instrument. In Britain, Question Time is such a great show, because of which the entire administration is on its toes and this kind of effectiveness need to be restored to make full use of it.

Critical comments

The same criticism could be extended to many other aspects of Parliament; for instance, Committees are not well attended and its reports are lying in the Library. Prof. Warnapala, in a previous study, has discussed all important aspects of the committee system in parliament.

However, in this work such important institutions as the Speaker, Opposition and Government and Parliament and Executive have been discussed in great detail and scathing critical comments have been made. In fact, one great quality of this writer is that all these aspects have been comprehensively dealt with and the discussion has been from the point of view of historical considerations.

The author in the course of his detailed analysis, has not failed to examine the significance of the impact of the Donoughmore system of Government which, in fact, laid a solid foundation for the growth of parliamentary institutions.

We know that the Donoughmore Constitution represented a vital stage in the constitutional evolution of Sri Lanka and its major impact had been on the operation of parliamentary institutions and the franchise.

All matters pertaining to previous constitutional evolution have been referred to in order to highlight their comparative importance.

In the chapter on Franchise and Elections and Members of Parliament, all relevant matters relating to these institutions have been critically examined and Prof. Warnapala, as many right-thinking people has been, very critical of the proportional system of representation, which, in reality, is the root cause of many political ills in the country.

Even at the last Provincial Council elections, we saw the nature of internal strife among the candidates of the same political party and our politicians, if they are interested in true parliamentary democracy, need to think in terms of changing the existing system of representation before it does more damage to the body politic. The whole PR scheme of representation has been very retrogressive.

Prof. Warnapala’s book, is an outstanding contribution to the study of Government, for the practitioners of politics and scholars, and it would help the researchers to undertake further insights on the subject, which, as we know, is a very lively subject. Prof. Warnapala has an insatiable desire for research and as stated earlier has published more than 25 books and contributed more than one hundred and 50 articles to learned journals.

His contribution to political studies has been very outstanding and is an eminent political scientist but whose knowledge and experience has not been utilised by those in the regime and the party, for which he toiled from his undergraduate days.

Let us encourage him to produce more writings of this nature and let him keep to his reputation as a fearless critic of the politics of the country.

Rational thinking always lead a nation to better development. It is my fervent belief this book on Parliament in Sri Lanka is certain to attract a wide readership locally and internationally.

I wish that this publication is translated into both Sinhala and Tamil.